Unfortunately it isn't really a matter of being "sorted".
I was reading the original Email Specfication and it does indeed only allow for the characters I listed above. Therefore, unless a new standard was released then programmers of mail programs, mailboxes and websites etc. must adhere to the standard.
The problem is that if my website allowed you to sign up for an email like johno'connor@mysite.com there is a good chance that it wouldn't receive mail because other websites and email programs would reject the apostrophe in the address and so this is why the standard must be kept consistent.
Unfortunately this is an example of technology over usability. To the lay person it would be obvious that o'connor or óbrien could be an address but unfortunately there are technology restrictions alot of the time. |